Reading Town Sudbury celebrating Munsch and Purdy

A scene from the documentary film "Al Purdy Was Here," is shown in a handout photo. Reading Town Sudbury/Ville Lecture 2019 will screen Al Purdy was Here and hold poetry readings at the Sudbury Indie Cinema, 162 Mackenzie St., on Friday. Tickets are on sale at www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca and eventbrite for $15. Tickets can also be purchased at the door on Friday in advance of the screening. THE CANADIAN PRESS

Reading Town Sudbury/Ville Lecture 2019 continues with two major events planned for this weekend.

First up is a screening of Al Purdy was Here and poetry readings at the Sudbury Indie Cinema, 162 Mackenzie St., on Friday.

Al Purdy Was Here is the portrait of an artist driven to become a great Canadian poet at a time when the category barely existed.

“Al Purdy is a charismatic tower of contradictions: a ‘sensitive man’ who whips out a poem in a bar fight; a factory worker who finds grace in an Arctic flower; a mentor to young writers who remained a stranger to his sons,” Reading Town Sudbury said in a release.

Purdy has been called the last, best and most Canadian poet. “Voice of the Land” is engraved on his tombstone. But before finding fame as the country’s unofficial poet laureate, he endured years of poverty and failure.

Born in Wooler, Ont., in 1918, Purdy was a high-school dropout who hopped freight trains during the Great Depression. He lived all over the country, working in mattress factories.

“After two decades of writing what he admits was bad poetry, in 1957 he and his wife build an A-frame cabin on Roblin Lake in Ontario’s Prince Edward County,” the release notes. “There he finds his voice, and surprising success. The A-frame soon becomes a mecca for the early pioneers of Canadian literature, writers like Margaret Laurence, Dennis Lee, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.

“And in this rustic salon, irrigated by Al’s wild grape wine, a cultural community takes root. Now, 15 years after Purdy’s death, artists and patrons have rallied to restore his shambling cabin as a writers’ retreat.

“It’s a quixotic enterprise. But as the A-frame comes back to life, it generates a Purdy revival, and an album of original songs inspired by his life and work. The film features performances by artists including Leonard Cohen, Bruce Cockburn, Gord Downie, Gordon Pinsent, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Sarah Harmer, Tanya Tagaq and Joseph Boyden.”

The narrative of the film, meanwhile, moves between Purdy’s story and the compelling characters bound up in his legacy. They range from his 90-year-old widow, Eurithe — who reflects on their turbulent marriage while overseeing the cabin’s restoration with a vigilant eye — to the A-frame’s first resident poet, a spirited young feminist who finds herself conversing with the ghost of an old-school male.

Tickets are on sale now at www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca and eventbrite for $15. Tickets can also be purchased at the door on Friday in advance of the screening.

The film begins at 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday and Sunday, meanwhile, Reading Town Sudbury celebrates children’s author Robert Munsch.

“This year we are particularly excited to be launching our first tri-cultural trail with Blackflies/Vilains maringouins! by Robert Munsch, which has English and French text with Indigenous illustrations, (which are) relevant to our Greater Sudbury community,” said Derek Young, Sudbury coordinator of Reading Town Sudbury.

“We will also be expanding across Greater Sudbury to launch three new trails in Lively, Blezard Valley and New Sudbury from our collection of stories,” Young said.

Munsch Day goes Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the New Sudbury Centre in partnership with Scholastic and the Greater Sudbury Public Library.

Local celebrities, including Markus Schwabe of the CBC, will host special readings of some of Munsch’s most beloved children’s stories.

People can also relive their Robert Munsch’s favourites with a number of free, fun and interactive activities for children and families alike in advance of the launch of Blackflies/Vilains maringouins! at the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area on Sunday, May 12 at 12 p.m.

For more information and event details, visit www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca.